


lost and found

by ravenreyamidala



Category: In Other Lands | The Turn of the Story - Sarah Rees Brennan
Genre: M/M, time traveler's wife au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 00:16:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16608191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenreyamidala/pseuds/ravenreyamidala
Summary: Luke was seven the first time it happened.He didn’t know what was happening at first. One minute he was at home, playing with Louise, and the next he was in the middle of some woods, naked.





	lost and found

**Author's Note:**

> for tasmanianerin, who asked for time-traveleing elliot and got this instead. thanks for being so patient and understanding with me.

Luke was seven the first time it happened.

 

He didn’t know what was happening at first. One minute he was at home, playing with Louise, and the next he was in the middle of some woods, naked.

 

Adam and Neal always had to be told that they couldn’t wander about naked, but Luke quite liked clothes. He would especially like some right this very moment, as the woods were dark and cold. He wasn’t really scared though— Mum and Dad had been taking him camping for as long as he could remember, and Louise was probably just playing a trick on him. Everyone would look at him weird if he acted like a baby; they were nice and all, but there was always a part of Luke that felt a little off from the rest of his family.

 

He quickly forgot what he was thinking about as he closed his eyes and was suddenly back at home.

 

Of course he wasn’t wearing clothes. Of course Louise teased him mercilessly about the whole thing.

 

And of course, Luke forgot until the next time it happened.

 

* * *

 

After Luke and Elliot helped Serene petition for taking both track courses, Luke…moved again. He doesn’t quite know what to call it. He could ask Elliot, but Elliot would proabably laugh. So he thinks about it in terms of moving, which isn’t the most correct way to think of it, but he is moving.

 

He wakes up the next morning and he isn’t in his bed, and he’s naked. He has a moment to be utterly confused before panic takes over as he hears voices. He finds the nearest spot to hide —in this case, a tree— just in time for the owners of the voices to come into view.

 

They sound like Serene and Elliot. But the two people are taller and older than the people he knows. He knows Elliot is an only child, without any extended family, but maybe the woman who looks like Serene is a cousin.

 

They’re talking about harpies. Luke shudders, but he doesn’t know what emotion causes it. He feels weirdly okay in these oddly familiar woods, a little peaceful. Something like belonging nudges at his heart.

 

The Serene lookalike says his name, but before he can hear the rest of what she has to say, he’s moving again.

 

He doesn’t forget this time, when he’s back home, warm and clothed. Everyone always said that Border camp would be the best time of his life, and it is, but he still felt a little like the way he did at home. Like he was on the outside looking in, no matter how much he did to be involved. But in those woods, it felt different.

 

* * *

 

As his voice starts to crack more frequently, so to does he move more and more. He’s been lucky so far but there have been moments where he’s almost discovered naked, and a majority of the time it’s Dale that nearly finds him.

 

Luke feels a little guilty thinking this, but he’s glad Dale is so passive. It’s easy enough to fool Dale away from Luke’s hiding spots where he’s crouched, naked, just barely holding back panicky breaths. He throws a rock or mimics a bird’s call and Dale starts looking for the sources of those noises instead.

 

Luke really likes wearing clothes. Really, really, really likes wearing them. He’s written home to Michael to ask for more sets so he can stashed them in random places around the camp. He can usually get to them before anyone notices his nakedness, but people usually do notice the lack of him when he moves.

 

Elliot, the jerk, spreads rumors that Luke has some chronic gas and runs off so he can fart without scandalizing anyone, but then concerned people start coming up to Luke and offer him remedies for his flatulence. Luke likes talking to people, it’s just that he is so bad at remembering their names, and Elliot always make a point of it to ask Luke people’s names after they come up to their table at lunch. Luke doesn’t understand why it’s such a big deal; his life is kind of busy, and that’s not even including his furtive dictionary reading. He just wants to understand Elliot and maybe be real friends, but it’s hard when he’s confused by every other word coming out of Elliot’s mouth.

 

When he moves, he doesn’t always go to the woods. Sometimes he’s by a lovely lake, where he can see mermaids moving about under the water or dwarven territory.

 

Once, he’s in the trees behind his house, and he can hear someone laughing. The sound sends warm tingles down his back and he closes his eyes reflexively to soak it in. He thinks _I didn’t even know I was looking for this._

 

He’s not upset when he inevitably moves, because he would miss camp and Serene and even Elliot eventually, but he carries the memory of the laughter fondly. When they have to comfort Serene after the lake incident, he almost tells her about it, but catches himself at the last minute. He doubts the sound of some stranger laughing will comfort Serene the same way it comforts him.

 

It’s the summer, during the Sunborn trial, when he hears the laughter again. Elliot and Serene are talking in the kitchen while Luke sneaks back in to grab clothes after disappearing unexpectedly. Serene says something Luke can’t hear, but the sound that comes after is as clear as a bell.

 

* * *

 

Luke is fifteen when he sees Elliot kiss someone else for the first time.

 

He never really thought Elliot and Serene would date, all be told. Elliot always seemed so serious about Serene, while Serene never really made the same attempts Elliot did to bridge the gap between their cultures. And so he’s surprised when he sees them kissing after the attack on the camp, but it’s not because it’s the first time he’s ever seen Elliot in a romantic context.

 

Two weeks earlier, Luke had moved or transported or traveled and saw Elliot kissing a Sunborn.

 

He couldn’t see their face, but only Sunborns had that particular color hair in the Borderlands. It couldn’t have been Adam-- after the beating Luke gave him over the summer, Adam was too afraid to even look at Elliot.

 

He stops thinking about it. Not because he doesn’t care who Elliot kisses, but because he’s not ready to face the fact that he does. That maybe Luke and Elliot are friends, and Luke doesn’t want Elliot to end up with someone who might hurt him.

 

Luke feels like the air is punched out of him when he rushes into the library only to be greeted by the sight of Serene and Elliot kissing.

 

 _Oh_ he thinks.

 

* * *

 

Luke is seventeen when he finds out he’s half harpy.

 

He doesn’t know how to deal with it. He’s embarrassed because people look at him even more now, and he doesn’t even really care about the fact that they’re saying bad things about him, but more about the fact that he’s being singled out at all. He’s never liked the attention.

 

There’s the side benefit of people not seeking him out as much. Something about his claws or general cowardness, but Luke’s grateful. He’s moving more than ever, and he would hate the situation even more if some untrusted acquaintance came across him sans clothing.

 

Some part of him has always known that he’s time-traveling. He’s been seeing the future. The mermaid trip, the dwarf trip, even the woods that he first visited.

 

But he only knows once they’re in the woods. He recognizes the feeling. And Elliot laughs, and Luke can’t stop staring at the vibrant red of Elliot’s curls, and Luke has known since the first time he heard that laugh, but he knows even more now.

 

When they finally kiss, something inside Luke settles.

  


**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed! i have ideas for more things to come in this series (yes i know i have another series on hold........i'll update it eventually i promise). please toss this author a kudo if you enjoyed


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